B2B Lead Generation Pilot Project - Balance Outsourcing Risks And Rewards
A B2B lead generation pilot project offers more than a chance to test a new call center provider. Rather it can also test new methods, platforms, or even potential audiences. Accordingly, this makes them useful to a company’s marketing and sales teams at nearly any point in their business development.
So, let’s discuss more about what it is, where it fits in, the benefits and related factors you should consider before moving forward with a B2B lead generation pilot project for your company.
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B2B Lead Generation Pilot Project Overview
Business-to-Business (B2B) lead generation is part of the marketing and sales development process of most companies. That is to say it is in charge of the front-end of the sales cycle: identifying, connecting with, and qualifying leads. Generally this involves cold calling prospects and following up with top-of-funnel leads to schedule sales appointments via the telephone or face-to face.
B2B lead generation is crucial for a company since pre-qualified sales leads are a key element of its success. Because the sales cycle begins by finding suspects that becoming prospects, which then become qualified sales leads. Then, the company sales personnel attempt to convert pre-qualified sales leads into customers.
Once you considered the above, here are tips that can help you structure a B2B lead generation pilot project that results in long-term success.
A B2B Lead Generation Pilot Project Starts Your Outsourcing
Your decision to use B2B lead generation outsourcing should be based on clear objectives of your marketing and sales strategy. Consequently, your pilot project process and obtained results need to be aligned with these objectives. For example, reasons to consider outsourcing are reduced costs, improved quality, increasing scalability, investigating different methods or technologies.
Whatever your pilot project objectives might be,t it’s important that the right people in your company understand how outsourcing can attain it. Because without support from higher-ups, even a promising pilot project may not be approved for future expansion. Specifically, be sure that the pilot project is endorsed by someone in a position to make changes to the marketing and sales processes based on the results of the pilot project.
Balancing Act
Making the most of a pilot project requires investing by both your company and the call center outsourcing provider. Because a
B2B Lead Generation Pilot Project Tips
As mentioned, a B2B lead generation pilot project can be used to test the benefits of outsourcing portions of your company’s marketing and sales functions. Accordingly, based on WHY you choose to outsource will determine which benefits are most relevant and important in evaluating the pilot project.
So here are tips related to a B2B lead generation pilot project using the analogy of an airplane flight.
Before Taking Off
1 – Define Goals And Expectations
A pilot project needs to be clear about what it is testing for and how it will be evaluated. Basically, this ensures that both your company and the call center outsourcing provider understand the desired goals and how to best approach the project. Furthermore, the goals should be aligned with solving a major company business challenge.
Consider the following company marketing and sales goals:
- Outsourcing For Cost Advantage
- Need To Improve Quality
- Testing A New Process (In-house Versus Outsourcing)
- Evaluating A New Market
- Outsourcing For Scalability
2 – Clarify And Then Clarify Again
Once you have agreed upon the goal(s), ask all the questions and clear up ambiguity with the call center outsourcing provider. Correspondingly the outsourcing provider will have MANY questions about your company based on their prior experience with other clients.
Topics that will require clarification might include:
- Have Other Methods Been Considered?
- Is There Room For Experimentation?
- What Are The Outsourcer’s Key Issues To Success?
- Which Key Metrics Will Determine Success?
- When Is The End Date For The Pilot Project?
3 – Visualize The Journey
While your final destination is to have a successful B2B lead generation pilot project, do not neglect how it will be like working with your company. When preparing for your pilot project make sure that the journey is carefully thought out (i.e., your flight plan).
In brief, this is where your company gets to build a relationship with your outsourcing provider. Earning their trust is crucial if you decide to move forward with the pilot project. So, take off preparation helps a smooth flight and is as important as landing smoothly.
Your flight plan might take into consideration:
- Focus On Where Lead Generation Economics Are Most Forgiving – Lead generation needs to consider the average size of the deal and the probability of purchase. Consequently, a pilot project combining a high potential average order size with a high probability of purchase gives the most room for mistakes and course correction.
- Keep It Simple – Lead generation is complex so don’t attempt to optimize everything. Instead, handle things in stages and look to narrow the scope.
- Make It Long Enough To Allow For Course Corrections – Pilot projects are trials in streamlining, so allow for adjustments, proper sampling, and gathering sufficient results.
- It Should Be Based On What You And Your Outsourcing Provider Can Control – You can only control the quality of sales leads, not what the sales personnel does with those leads.
Once Airborne And Cruising
1 – Communicate
You and your call center outsourcing provider may be in the same state, country or different continents. Regardless of distance and timezone shift, a B2B lead generation pilot project requires working “in synch” with discipline and openness of communication. Both parties are responsible for this process and its success.
The technology exists to essentially have immediate, direct access between parties via Internet applications such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, WhatsApp, and Skype. Basically, there is no excuse to not reach out with a quick message, question, or email when there is the need to communicate.
As part of the onboarding process, you and your outsourcing provider should have established the communication channels, responsibilities, and contact points. Nevertheless, avoid the potential bottleneck of just one contact point. Instead have a backup, since time rarely is an ally of a pilot project. While sharing information can be easy, don’t forget that it is harder to do concisely and effectively, particularly if there are differences in cultures.
2 – Be Transparent And Honest
Your company and the call center outsourcing provider should be aware of its strengths and weaknesses. Accordingly, open discussions between both parties about what skills may be available or otherwise lacking offers potential positive returns in a pilot project. When both parties are given the time to learn the technical skills lacking, it will pay off long term. Specifically, after the pilot project, both parties, acting as a team, will be ready to scale production.
This also means admitting when it turns out that the pilot project is NOT a good fit between the parties. Whenever this occurs, it may not necessarily a sign of weakness, but of awareness of the differences. Also, better to part ways now, rather than when you scale up production and the risk of failure is higher.
3- Need To Invest More
A B2B lead generation pilot project consists of learning and adjustments between your company and the outsourcing provider. Accordingly, a frank discussion is needed between parties when there are changes in the goals of the pilot project.
When these changes reflect the real-world experience of the pilot project, normally the outsourcing provider needs to adjust assigned resources. Consequently, the outsourcing provider needs to invest additional staffing and production hours or slip the pilot project schedule. Alternatively, the outsourcing provider is forced to consider reducing quality or profitability, likely resulting in losing the outsourcing relationship.
4 – Plan To Upscale Production
Your B2B appointment setting pilot project should plan for success, which implies upscaling production. While the pilot project has a modest scale for risk management, it needs to provide the framework for natural growth. Consequently the process, technology, quality, and communications need to reflect a transition to a larger scale.
During the pilot project is when bottlenecks, inefficiencies and problems need to be identified and resolved to allow scaling up. As a result both your company and the outsourcing provider will need to be flexible, patient and adaptable. Simply put, changes for the better are to be expected during the course of the pilot project.
Fasten Seatbelts For Landing
1 – Presentation Delivery
For all the effort invested in your company’s B2B lead generation pilot project, it requires a formal presentation. Basically, your audience will be those who sponsored it and those who will decide whether to expand it. Then to help your cause it will require supporting commentary by your company’s marketing and sales personnel. Finally, commentary from your outsourcing provider provides an external perspective for your company’s management.
2 – Post-Mortem
When the B2B lead generation pilot project is over and did not result as planned, it is valuable to do a post-mortem. Basically, it is now the opportunity to step back from “living the process” to learn from the experience.
A post-mortum will help you and your company management determine:
- What Was Good And Should Be Continued.
- Things That Need To Be Changed And Improved Upon.
- What Was Bad, Should Be Stopped, Or Changed.
It is important to learn from the pilot project experience to ensure that your team grows moving forward.
B2B Lead Generation Pilot Project Conclusion
For many companies new to outsourcing marketing and sales functions, a B2B lead generation pilot project is a prudent business decision. Accordingly a pilot project helps determine how a business outsourcing relationship can evolve.
A B2B lead generation pilot project is more likely to be successful with clear objectives aligned with your business strategies. When it is effectively managed, with strong pre-planning, during execution, and after completion, it fosters productive long-term business relationships. Finally, the pilot project should result in a win-win relationship for both parties.
Please call us at (888) 339-6699 to discuss how our call center lead generation services will serve your business needs or Contact Us.
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